In episode 3 of Down Cemetery Road, it was revealed that Rufus was actually Axel, Amos’ brother, and both of them were on the clean-up crew of the Ministry of Defence. C and Hamza were getting worried about how Axel was handling things, but since Downey took care of him, they were relieved. But Amos was still on the team, and C ordered Hamza to fire him. Amos refused to accept that sacking order and decided to stay on the case until he found Downey and avenged his slain brother. Speaking of Downey, he was on the run with Sarah. No, he hadn’t kidnapped her; he was saving her from the people who were preventing her from meeting Dinah. Of course, Sarah didn’t trust Downey. So, while taking a pit stop at a gas station, she tried to get in touch with Mark, only to learn that her husband was cheating on her with his colleague, Emma. Heartbroken, Sarah resumed her journey with Downey, who took her to a random motel to clean up and get some rest. When Downey went to the washroom, Sarah called up Zoe with the intention of informing her where she was. Now, by the time Sarah called up Zoe, the latter had collected some info regarding this whole case. For starters, Dinah’s dad, Tommy, wasn’t killed in that blast. He was part of a team of 8 soldiers who were court-martialed and subsequently “killed” in a chopper crash. They were probably taken to a secret military base, where they were experimented upon. Tommy and Downey were the last 2 candidates. Tommy eventually died, but Downey made it out of the plant in one piece. However, he was on borrowed time because the experiments had destroyed his body. Still, since he posed a danger to the government, C was using Dinah as bait to nab Downey. Well, did he succeed? And did Zoe and Sarah become collateral damage? Let’s find out.
Spoiler Alert
Downey’s Sickness Makes an Appearance
In episode 4 of Down Cemetery Road, Sarah informs Zoe that Rufus, or Axel, is dead, which means that Zoe doesn’t have to look for him anymore. She directs her attention to Downey—well, Sarah doesn’t know his name, but she gives a rough description of him—and just to make sure that they are on the same page, Zoe sends Sarah the screenshot of the Veterans Reunited website. As soon as Sarah confirms that Downey is in that picture, Zoe tells her to run. But Sarah wants to stick with Downey because, firstly, he saved her from getting killed by Axel, and secondly, he is looking for Dinah too.
Before Zoe can tell Sarah why she thinks Downey is dangerous, he snatches the phone out of Sarah’s hand and smashes it to bits because he thinks that the Ministry of Defence can track them through it, or he thinks that Sarah is betraying him. Sarah tries to explain to him that she was talking to a friend who is looking to solve the mystery surrounding Dinah, but Downey begins to convulse. The receptionist, Sam, drops by to check on what’s happening because there’s a lot of commotion happening in the room. Sarah pretends that she and Downey were having rough sex, and the naive Sam accepts that narrative and leaves them be. After Downey stabilizes a bit, he asks Sarah to give him the pills that are in his bag. Sarah obviously wants to know what this histropine is and why Downey needs it, but he is not in the mood to give her any answers. Since Downey is not in good shape, Sarah leaves him be, at least for the time being.
Downey Opens Up to Sarah
The following day, Sarah wakes up Downey and tells him that they should get moving. Downey notices that his gun is gone, and Sarah says that she has kept it in their room’s safe. Downey asks for the combination to the safe, and Sarah demands that he reveal the real purpose of his pills if he wants it. Albeit reluctantly, Downey says that he has a rare neurological condition and he’s taking experimental drugs to fix it. I think it’s a white lie because, yes, Downey has a neurological condition, and yes, he is taking an experimental drug for it, but he has omitted its cause, which is probably the experiments that were conducted on him and his comrades. But there’s no way for Sarah to know that. So, she accepts Downey’s narrative, returns his pills, tells him the code to the safe (which is 8008; very mature), and goes off to get some chow for the both of them.
Once Sarah has acquired some snacks, she notices that Sam is nowhere near the reception. Hence, she sneaks into his chamber and uses his computer to get some info on histropine. However, all she gets is an “under construction” website on the medicine. Before she can look into it any further, Sam arrives, and Sarah is forced to return to her room. And she immediately begins questioning Downey. She asks him about the people who are after them, and Downey doesn’t give her an answer. She asks him about Dinah and why she’s involved in a national incident like this. Downey reiterates that it’s his responsibility to save Dinah because she is his friend’s daughter. Sarah thinks she is making some progress, but Downey shuts down because he is of the opinion that he has given too much info to Sarah already. As he begins to get off the bed so that they can leave the motel and move to a different location, Sarah proposes that they change their clothes so that it’s relatively difficult to identify them.
Dinah Is Moved To A Different Safe House
Since Amos paid an unsanctioned visit to the safe house where Dinah is currently at, Hamza has to search for another safe house where she can be relocated. The place that Hamza has unearthed seems to be an abandoned army medical base. Maybe that’s where those 8 soldiers were kept when they were being experimented upon. If that’s the case, this’ll be a sad full-circle moment, as Tommy’s daughter will end up in the same place where he died. While inspecting the spot with his assistant, Clem, Hamza appears to be quite surprised by the state of the hospital or medical center, which could mean that Hamza has no idea what he is trying to cover up on C’s behalf. Maybe he has been given a cliche story about roping in some anti-nationals. But the fact that said “anti-national” has been heavily experimented upon and tortured has probably not been revealed to him. Does that mean that when the truth comes to light, Hamza is going to join hands with Downey and rebel against the government? I very much doubt it. The man has shown no spine so far. Or maybe that’s what Down Cemetery Road wants us to think, and he’ll surprise us all by subverting our expectations.
Going back to the plot, Hamza breaks the news to Steph (the nurse looking after Dinah) and the 2 bodyguards stationed at the safe house, Ty and Nev, that they are moving. They don’t take the news all that well, but what other choice do they have? So, Hamza gets the three of them to take Dinah and move to that abandoned army base in the middle of nowhere. Unbeknownst to all of them, Amos is tracking Dinah’s whereabouts through the GPS device in her teddy bear. Before he can focus on that, though, Amos’ girlfriend enters the picture and informs him that the “defunct” histropine website that she had made just got a ping (because of Sarah, obviously). The seemingly innocuous website has IP-tracing capabilities and has revealed the location from where it has been accessed; it’s the motel in Reading that Sarah and Downey are at. This discovery sparks some joy in Amos and his girlfriend’s hearts, but they quickly become all serious. I don’t know why. Maybe they realize that they shouldn’t be so happy because Axel has died recently. Maybe later on we’ll learn what’s actually happening between these two.
Amos Takes Out Hamza’s Thugs
Amos calls up Sam and exploits his naivete to learn about the room in which Sarah and Downey are staying. Moments later, Amos shows up at the hotel disguised as a delivery guy. Sam asks him where he’s going, and since Amos says the room number in which Downey and Sarah are in, Sam assumes that he is genuinely a delivery guy. While Amos is waiting for the elevator to arrive, Sarah, who was already at the reception to get a change of clothes, sneakily tells Sam to keep Amos (who she claims is her stalker) occupied until she gets back to her room. Poor Sam tries his best to stall Amos, but the big man knocks Sam out and makes his way to Sarah and Downey’s room. When Sam regains consciousness, he calls the police. Sarah and Downey barely manage to escape Amos as well as the police’s clutches, and they hit the road again. Since there’s no way for Amos to track the dynamic duo like he can track Dinah, he has no choice but to give up on them for now. Amos’ antics are conveyed to C by Hamza, in addition to the news about Dinah being shifted to the abandoned army base.
Given how Amos is showing no sign of stopping despite being fired, Hamza wants him dead. C gives him the green light to see it done; he just advises Hamza to not use amateurs. However, the guys that Hamza approaches seem like street-level thugs who are so confident that they can easily take on Amos that they want to be paid in full, you know, because they are sure that they’ll get the job done. Newsflash: they fail miserably. These thugs attack Amos in his apartment after he has been through that whole ordeal of tracking down Sarah and Downey. Still, he manages to take down all three of those lackeys quite effortlessly. Then he proceeds to set his apartment on fire, burning the lackeys to a crisp along with his home. Why does he do that? Because that apartment is of no use to him anymore. He has been doxxed. Hence, he has to shift base. But what about his girlfriend? That was her home too? I don’t think Amos cares that much about her, or maybe he has enough resources to rehabilitate her as well. Either way, Fehinti Balogun was certainly the highlight of this episode. The acting range that he displayed is simply fantastic. He deserves a huge round of applause.
Sarah and Downey Meet Gerard
After putting some distance between themselves and the Almeida Inn, Sarah and Downey stop to take a breather. Downey wonders how Amos tracked them down. Sarah admits that she searched for info on the histropine, and that’s what exposed their location. Downey reiterates the point that anything digital is traceable, and if they want to move undetected, they have to stay away from digital devices that are connected to the internet. Sarah counters Downey’s scolding by saying that she did save him, which makes up for the fact that she almost got both of them killed. Downey says that he could have taken on Amos, but we all know the truth: Downey is in no shape to take on someone as formidable as Amos.
Instead of bickering about who is right and who is wrong, Sarah says that they need to focus on rescuing Dinah. Downey points out that his gray van has become pretty recognizable by now. So, they need to get rid of it. Additionally, they need guns, because the one he had is still in that safe in the motel. After racking her brains for a bit, Sarah arrives at the conclusion that they should go to Gerard’s place. Sarah assumes that Gerard and Paula are not home, which means that they can easily break in, get a car and some guns, and then leave. Just to make sure that her hypothesis is correct, she chucks a few rocks at the windows of Gerard’s house. When nobody responds, she announces it’s safe to break in. However, after getting in, they are greeted by an incredibly drunk Gerard—which explains the lack of response—who is wielding a gun.
Sarah and Downey Hit the Road Again
Sarah manages to identify herself to Gerard and convince him that Downey is her friend. All this commotion causes Paula, who was sleeping upstairs, to come down and deescalate the whole situation. Once everyone has calmed down, Sarah brings Gerard up to date, and he is understandably shocked. Gerard thinks that they should involve the police, because the commissioner is an “old chum” of his. Downey advises against it; he just wants the guns and the car. Gerard is hell-bent on not giving them anything, but when Paula supports Sarah and Downey’s mission, Gerard says that he’ll give them his car, but he isn’t giving them any guns. Because if they kill someone with his guns, it’ll be traced back to him, and he’ll end up in jail. Although Gerard is quite detestable, this sounds sensible. What Gerard does next, though, is quite stupid.
When everyone is asleep, Gerard calls the police. Downey’s Spidey-sense warns him that Gerard is up to no good, and he stops him from telling anything to the police. Then Downey forces Gerard to give up his guns and a car key to him, and Gerard has no option but to oblige. After he has gotten what he wanted, he ties Gerard to the staircase and tries to resume his mission without Sarah. However, Sarah hears Gerard’s cries for help and stops Downey in his tracks. While they are arguing if Downey should go solo or if Sarah should go with him, Paula frees Gerard, and the belligerent idiot goes off to reprimand both Sarah and Downey. Paula too enters the scene; she hands over a bag of food and drinks to Sarah and tells them to hit the road before Gerard does something rash. As Paula keeps Gerard occupied, Sarah and Downey restart their mission of rescuing Dinah.
Zoe Breaks Into Isaac’s Office
Unable to contact Sarah, Zoe starts pestering DI Ash Varma (previously referred to as Plod, which is British slang for policeman) and tells him to meet her, because now she not only has some more details on the conspiracy that the government is trying to cover up, but she also has some idea about who Sarah is with. Ash has no option but to oblige Zoe by meeting her at a pretty posh restaurant, or else she would have fried his phone with notifications. And, well, it turns out that Ash is actually not in C’s pocket; his boss is. Ash reveals that, after Zoe requested him to, he opened Joe’s case, and within a matter of 20 minutes, his boss arrived to shut it all down and told him to leave it. Yet, Ash has managed to smuggle Tommy’s autopsy report out, and he hands it over to Zoe because she can clearly pursue that lead while he can’t.
No, Zoe can’t have the report or take pictures of it; she has to memorize it. While studying the documents, Zoe spots the name Isaac Wright; yes, that’s the same Isaac who was talking to C in last week’s episode. She notices that Isaac’s office is in London, while Tommy technically died in South Oxford. So why is a doctor from London doing the autopsy of a John Doe from South Oxford? Well, since Zoe has Isaac’s office address, she decides to pay him a visit and see what his role is in all of this. She wants Ash to come along with her, but he doesn’t want to be a part of this mission because he fears that he’ll lose his job. Zoe says that if he comes along with her, she’ll definitely respect him more than his boss does, which might be true, but people need money to make ends meet; respect doesn’t always put food on the table. Anyway, on that note, Ash and Zoe part ways, and the latter heads to Isaac’s office while the good doctor is away playing squash with C.
Zoe Gets A Warning From C
Before entering Isaac’s office, Zoe has a chat with Wayne, who says that he has taken her “live your dreams” advice to heart, quit his job at the morgue, and is going to be a full-time streamer. Hilariously enough, Wayne starts having second thoughts, but that’s also when Zoe spots Isaac returning to the office. So, she hangs up, leaving Wayne to his devices, and then goes off to have a chat with Isaac. The receptionist doesn’t allow her to meet Isaac because she doesn’t have an appointment. Coincidentally, that’s when somebody breaks into Isaac’s car, thereby attracting Isaac’s as well as the receptionist’s attention towards it. While they assess the damage, Zoe sneaks into Isaac’s chambers, steals his laptop as well as his pen drives, and then sneaks out. Since Isaac and the receptionist are busy bickering about whether they should call the police or the guy that repairs windows, Zoe effortlessly leaves the scene while paying off the guy who broke into Isaac’s car to create the aforementioned distraction. Seems too easy, doesn’t it? That’s right, because, in her arrogance, Zoe has failed to do one important thing: hide her face.
When Isaac returns to his chambers, he notices what’s missing and conveys that info to C. C asks for the CCTV footage of his office, and, lo and behold, there’s Zoe on it, and one of the most notorious men in England now knows what she looks like. In the ending of the Down Cemetery Road episode 4, when Zoe reaches her apartment, she notices that her door is open and the word “STOP” has been written on her curtains. It’s obvious that this is C’s work. But why did he just let her off with a stern warning? I mean, she has Isaac’s laptop and pen drives. Her husband has died trying to uncover the truth that the government is trying to brush under the rug. What’s a “STOP” sign going to do to her? It’s possible that C is a raging misogynist and thinks that that’ll be enough to scare Zoe. Well, we know that Zoe is “built different,” and this is only going to motivate her to learn about the government’s secret program and then maybe get in touch with Sarah so that they can rescue Dinah. Anyway, those are just my thoughts on this episode. If you have any opinions on the same, feel free to share them in the comments section below.
